A human psychology expert has shared that all humans have the same narcissistic tendency, and it could be a surprise to you.
When you think of narcissists nowadays, your brain naturally thinks of negative behaviours from a person, perhaps things than can affect someone else's mental health, or even end a relationship.
For those who don't know, the official health term for narcissism - Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) - can be defined as a need for admiration, pattern of grandiosity and lack of empathy.
Having NPD can make everyday life that bit harder, but what about narcissistic tendencies?
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Expert Robert Greene appeared as a guest on The Diary of a CEO podcast, with the renowned human behaviour expert imparting his knowledge on narcissism, and how we all have tendencies.
Yes, seriously.
You may think that only people who are considered 'toxic' have these behaviours, but the seven-time New York Times bestselling-author says otherwise.
Greene claims that everyone is 'self-absorbed' in some sense, explaining: "I make the point that everybody's self-absorbed you know, when you're reading book and you see your birthday happens to be there, just a fact, you're like 'whoa that's my birthday'," before adding that we all 'are interested in ourselves'.
That's a point that's hard to argue with - think about the celebrity who you realised shared the same birthday as you.
He went on: "We're all self-absorbed, when somebody suddenly talks about us our ears prick up - I'm not moralising it, it's just the truth, 'it's me!' everyone doesn't want to admit it.
"It's always somebody else it's always Donald Trump, it's always Elon Musk is a narcissist, everybody has narcissistic tendencies, that's human nature and we want to deny it."
Host Steven Bartlett then asked if we should 'lean in' to these tendencies, given that world leaders and successful mind all display narcissistic traits.
Greene clarified that some are called 'deep narcissists', which are the ones you'd think of first when you hear the word, calling them 'problematic'.
However, there are also 'healthy narcissists', according to the psychology expert.
"A lot of narcissists aren't necessarily the best people... you wouldn't want to be their friend they're maybe not the most faithful person as far as a partner is concerned, but they put all of that narcissistic energy into their work and they create beautiful things that contribute to humanity," Green said.
He used Steve Jobs as an example, describing his as 'assertive' and 'a control freak', but he created products that have changed humanity.
The expert then used Alcoholics Anonymous as an example, essentially saying that you can't stop being an alcoholic without admitting it first, and this applies to narcissistic tendencies too.
He explained: "You have to get on your hands and knees and admit that you are a narcissist, because if you deny it and you say everybody else is, if you can't look inward how can you ever change that?"
The expert urged people to 'get off your high horse and look inward', as everyone has these traits.
Topics: Mental Health, Community, YouTube
Joshua Nair